Industry: Technology
Valuation: $2.220 Trillion in market capital (“Apple (AAPL) – Market Capitalization”)
Employee Number: ~154,000 as of 2021 (“Apple: Number of Employees 2010-2022 | AAPL”)
Location: Cupertino, California
Leadership: CEO, Tim Cook
This company was chosen because of the wide array of information that can be found regarding its history, as well as its impressive capacity to overcome changes and adapt. Apple is exemplary in its grasp of the global computer market, and fascinating to examine as part of a business case study.
History
Apple, the international technological giant most people know today had humble beginnings. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, college dropouts at the time, banded together to work on an innovative business that could change people’s relationships with personal computers forever. A vision of portability and comfort was at the forefront of these young men’s minds, and they started making it a reality with their own hands (“This Month in Business History: The Founding of Apple Computers, Inc”). In 1976, first Apple computers were created, then without any additional amenities, even excluding the monitor. Jobs and Wozniak improved over time, however, so quickly that the emergent Apple 2 computer could be considered revolutionary (“This Month in Business History: The Founding of Apple Computers, Inc”). After going public with the company, the business became even more profitable than before, jumping up to $117 million in 1980.
Shortly after this period, Wozniak left the company to pursue other ventures. At the same time, Jobs was struggling to find a suitable candidate to fill the role of the president. John Sculley stepped up for this role, which proved to be an inadvisable move. The two leaders have had a number of managerial disagreements, causing controversy within the organization. The fallout of this decision saw the second founder leave the company. Despite the potential setback this decision caused, Apple followed in the footsteps of Steve Jobs, and managed to ensure its success in the coming years (“This Month in Business History: The Founding of Apple Computers, Inc”). Jumping back to present day, the efforts of both founders, a variety of leaders, and a hard-working staff have paid off, resulting in the flourishing of a great company. Apple of today can be considered the largest tech giant in the world, distributing, creating and licensing its products to the people all around the world.
Products
Throughout its existence, Apple has created a number of convenient, innovative, and interesting devices for their customers. The Apple computers, which were the initial product the company manufactured, remains relevant and popular today. Working on the Mac OS, Apple’s PC’s are portable, slick, efficient, and well suited for work. Despite a long-standing rivalry with Microsoft, Apple has managed to carve out its own niche and secure a following. Coming close to their PC market success is Apple’s phone-related endeavors. Having released the IPhone, the company has cemented its position as a formidable player in the portable scene. At the time of its release, the first IPhone revolutionized the public’s view of phones, and contributed to the growth of the industry as a whole. Today, features inspired by the IPhone, such as the presence of a touch screen, phone applications, intuitive interface, and minimalism. Other products, such as the Apple watch and Apple tablets have also been successful, further expanding the company’s outreach and influence
The music scene in particular has been deeply affected by apple. The introduction of the iPod, and other gadgets has made music truly playable and consumer friendly, allowing individuals to store hundreds of their favorite songs in one place. iTunes, the platform used to sustain this climate, similarly was an innovation. Integrating a music purchasing online platform with a music player, and giving users an ability to synchronize up any of their devices at will.
Social Responsibility
As a modern tech company, Apple takes great strides to make its products helpful to the society around them. In their product design, accessibility always comes as a priority, allowing individuals with various impediments. Changing colors to avoid eye strain, interface sizing adjustments, and other customization options all work together to ensure a better, user-friendly experience. Furthermore, Apple can be noted for embracing reparability and answering the right to repair movement. This change was only introduced recently, following a long history of Apple disallowing third parties to repair their software, and largely trying to monopolize the idea of fixing Apple products.
Speaking of sustainability, it is vital to address company’s efforts in recycling and using sustainable materials. Firstly, Apple partners with trustworthy suppliers and ensures transparency, in order to allow the public and the government to scrutinize its logistics and sourcing methods. Making informed decision with a board of directors for accountability helps the company act with consideration toward society. Environmentally, Apple was able to achieve carbon neutrality in their corporate operations since 2020. Furthermore, the organization plans to continue similar efforts, and achieve neutrality with their product lineups. As a tech company, Apple has a need to ensure accountability in protecting the rights of their consumers. Dealing with data, Apple collects information about their clients. Location, preferences, age, and other considerations are all stored by Apple to enhance the experiences of their users (“Privacy”). As a result, a need to protect user data emerges. High-end encryption is used to protect customers from malicious influence, or ensure that no potential data breaches occur (“Privacy”). On the side of the users themselves, Apple allows them to make informed choices about access to their services, and provides protections for their devices.
References
Apple (AAPL) – Market Capitalization. (n.d.). Companies Ranked by Market Cap – CompaniesMarketCap.com. Web.
Apple: Number of Employees 2010-2022 | AAPL. (n.d.). Macrotrends | The Long Term Perspective on Markets. Web.
Privacy. (n.d.). Apple. Web.
This Month in Business History: The Founding of Apple Computers, Inc. (n.d.). Research Guides at Library of Congress. Web.